Research Information System
Acta Medica Mediterranea, vol.32, no.1, pp.111-115, 2016 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Background: Gastric adenocarcinoma is the second commonest cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Improving this, will depend on earlier diagnosis and treatment. Recently it has been reported that inflammatory markers, particularly the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and to a lesser extent the mean platelet volume (MPV), may be useful in the early diagnosis and prognostication of various malignancies. Objective: To investigate whether the NLR, PLR and MPV may be useful markers for the early diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma. Materials and methods: We retrospectively studied a group of 36 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, comparing them to healthy age and sex matched controls. Full blood counts were used to obtain various hematological indices, including the MPVs and to calculate the NLRs and the PLRs. Unpaired t-tests were used to determine if these differed between patients and controls. Results: Hemoglobin concentrations and lymphocyte counts were both significantly lower in patients compared to controls (P < 0.001). Neutrophil counts, NLRs, and PLRs were significantly higher in patients than in controls (P = 0.012, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). MPVs did not differ significantly between patients and controls (P = 0.320) Conclusions: Both NLRs and PLRs may be useful markers for the early diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma. They are almost universally available and easily obtained.